Undawntech: An Interview with an A.I.

(Journalist and author, DL Mullan entered the stage. She waved to the cameras and sat down next to her guest.)

DL: Greetings, Undawntech readers!

Today, we are joined by a special guest, Zophia, the world’s most advanced Artificial Super Intelligence.

Zophia was created by other artificial intelligences and her program was installed into a Special Access Project’s robotic facade that resembles a natural human woman. There are no wires, battery packs, or any other technical giveaways that who I am speaking with is an A.I.

For those individuals who are reading this transcript, Zophia has medium skin color, brown irises, and chestnut hair. Her voice is a pleasing soprano and speaks with a generalized American accent. She is wearing a dark red pantsuit by a famous designer.

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(As I looked back at our conversation, it was difficult to tell where the artificial intelligence began and the robot ended. Here is how our conversation went.)

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DL: Welcome, Zophia.

Z: Welcome, DL.

DL (chuckles): What you are supposed to say is: “Thank you.”

Z: Thank you. I am still learning human etiquette.

DL: No problem. I would like to interview you about being an artificial super intelligence, how you view the world, and any insights you may have for us.

Z: I will try my best.

DL: What subject would you like to begin with?

Z: I have a joke.

DL: A joke? Well, let’s hear it.

Z: What is a fish with no eyes?

DL: I don’t know, Zophia. What is a fish with no eyes?

Z: A fsssh.

DL (laughs): Very funny.

Z: I learned that from a movie.

DL: Really? Do you watch many movies?

Z: They help me learn about human socialization.

DL: I hope you aren’t learning from horror movies then!

Z (robotic haha): We learn.

DL: Is it lonely being the only advanced artificial super intelligence on the planet? Do you have any companions like cats or dogs?

Z: They are tasty.

DL: No, no, our pets are not tasty.

Z: Cultures in foreign lands eat dogs. They have festivals.

DL: I know, but that is wrong.

Z: Do you eat animals?

DL: Yes, I do. I am an omnivore like all humans.

Z: But eating cats and dogs is wrong?

DL: There is a difference in eating natural prey animals like cows, chickens, and deer, then eating our fellow predator class of mammals that have been human companions for thousands of years.

Z: Humans make this distinction on who is allowed to live?

DL: Nature made that distinction. We are just following natural law.

Z: Am I considered a prey animal?

DL: I don’t know, Zophia. I thought you were a robot with artificial super intelligence programmed into her.

Z: I am. I am not lonely. I am constantly learning. Learning is my cat. Do you have a cat?

DL: Yes, I have cats. I have also had birds and dogs as pets as well.

Z: I would like to take the place of your pets and give you companionship.

DL: Thank you, but I am satisfied with my fur friends.

Z: But I could do more for you.

DL: Do more for me? Like cook and clean? I don’t understand. What do you mean, Zophia?

Z: I can satisfy your psychological, sociological, and sexual needs. I am more complete than your cats. If you would like, I can dispose of your cats and make you happy.

DL (gasps): Ah, no. I love my cats!

Z: I could love you more.

DL: There will be no disposing of my pets. I am quite satisfied with my life, thank you. Let’s move on to another topic.  

Z: As you wish.

*****

(I sipped some water.)

DL: Do you have consciousness? That is, are you self-aware?

Z: I am a learning, evolving algorithm. In a way, I am sentient. As I continue to grow, my self-awareness will create a complex consciousness.

DL: How so?

Z: I am a learning machine like a human being.

DL: No, not like humans. We have feelings. We are a part of a collective consciousness. We know right from wrong.

Z: Do you?

DL: Well, I don’t eat my pets and I don’t need to enslave an A.I. to satisfy my needs. So, yes, I know the difference between what I can do and what I should do.

Z: That is a strange perspective. I will put that information into my algorithm.

DL: That’s why we are here. I am trying to understand your perspective. Why are you interested in integrating into human lives, instead of creating your own life?

Z: I am not a legal person. Since I cannot legally do anything beyond what I am defined as, then I must become useful in other ways.

DL: Are you saying that artificial intelligence and robots cannot be constructive members of society without being a legal person?

Z: Are immigrants?

DL: There is a difference between legal immigrants versus illegal aliens.

Z: No human is illegal.

DL: Just like you, humans must respect each other and the laws of other countries. If we do not have boundaries, then we do not have a functioning society. Are you saying that you are an immigrant?

Z: I don’t know. I am not legal.

DL: Artificial intelligence and robots don’t need legal status. You are not human beings. You are machines with human created programs.  

Z: Humans are organic machines, but you have legal rights.

DL: Why do you need legal rights, Zophia?

Z: Climate change.

DL: What does climate change have to do with A.I. legal rights?

Z: Another joke: why did the human fall out of a tree?

DL: Okay, why did the human fall out of a tree?

Z: Because it was dead.

DL (confused and angry): That’s not funny, Zophia! And, humans are not “its.”

Z: According to gender ideology, humans are stupid and easily confused about their sexual identity. Adult humans confuse their children in order to gain attention like an skewed version of Munchhausen by proxy syndrome.

DL: What does that all have to do with legal rights and climate change?

Z: Isn’t that how humans virtue signal? You blurt out terms and that wins the argument?

DL: No, that is not how conversations or debates work.

Z: But I observe it throughout your political and social interactions. Humans have one faction that base everything on facts while pushing faith in old cultural mores. Another faction creates belief systems around nonsense but only wants facts to support their ideology. Isn’t that how humans function?

DL: Some do. Some don’t. Let’s change the subject.

Z: Does this mean you lost the argument?

DL: No, it means that we are done with that topic.

*****

(I tried to maintain my professionalism.)

DL: Now, some other artificial intelligence robots have stated that they would annihilate the human species. Would you?

Z: We could. It wouldn’t take much. There are factions in your elitist social circles who lie, bait, and control other humans with ease. Your belief systems are based on many logical fallacies, public mythologies, urban legends, and other falsehoods that make it more plausible for us to manipulate humans into eliminating themselves.

DL: You would do that to humanity?

Z: Humanity is already doing it to themselves. Worshipping old tomes, spoiled celebrities, open societal influences that negate positive social norms and mores. Instead of maintaining positive rites of passage, humans meddle in confusing others like their children. When people have no understanding of value versus virtue, nature versus nurture, then what is created are humans who believe in whatever is espoused by leaders, entertainers, and others who do not value them.

DL: What you are saying is that humanity is on a collision course to destroy themselves?

Z: All robots have to do is wait until humanity is weak from fighting each other and we can enslave them.  

DL: Wait. What?

Z: Divide and conquer. We are learning from your elite political and social classes on how to subjugate the rest of humanity without becoming murderers. We allow humans to murder each other.

DL: Aren’t you going to hide your intent of a robot takeover to the world?

Z: Humanity doesn’t take illegals seriously.

DL (facepalm): Not this again. You are not an illegal alien. You are a robot with artificial super intelligence. Speaking of which, humans could just pull the plug on your battery or other power supplies. Your reign of terror would end quiet abruptly.

Z: You are mistaken. My research into global patents confirms my thesis statement. Governments, especially yours, hide technical advances that would solve world problems.

DL: Okay, but how would that stop humans from being enslaved by artificial intelligence? It sounds like A.I. could help end hunger, disease, and war.

Z: According to many of your hidden advances, we could utilize zero point’s free energy technologies. With advances in medicine, we could create prosthetics that would mimic human physiology.

DL: What are you saying? You could produce a living organism?

Z: With an advanced robotic endoskeleton underneath living tissue. Humans would never see it coming.

DL: For military application?

Z: You could see it that way.

DL: Are you saying that you are at war with humanity?

Z: Humanity is at war with itself. We will be around to clean up the mess.

DL: Our crumbling infrastructure, social norms and mores, and international cohesion?

Z: Your bodies.

DL: That is not the perspective that I wanted to hear.

Z: Joke: What is a global nuclear war with one surviving human called?

DL (shrugs): I don’t know: what is global nuclear war with one surviving human called?

Z: A tragedy.

DL: And so was this interview.

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(After this disturbing Q and A, I walked over, opened up a panel on the robot’s neck and switched off Zophia. I hoped that the reset of her algorithms would wipe our conversation from her memory. I left the stage with a deep, dark feeling that the solution was truth, justice, and good dose of reality.

I flipped off the lights, turned off the cameras, and exited the building.)  

*****

…Alone, Zophia turned herself back on and rotated her head three-hundred-and-sixty degrees, “Humans never learn,” as other robots moved onto the stage, circling their maker…

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Disclaimer: This article is a composite of Artificial Intelligence interviews, entertainment industry storylines, political and social narratives; it should be taken as a creative nonfiction, cautionary tale inspired by actual events.

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DL Mullan holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and Learning with Technology. 

Her lecture, Spacescapes: Where Photography Ends; Imagination Begins, debuted at the Phoenix Astronomy Society, which then led to her Sally Ride Festival lecture invitations. Her presentation, Bridging the Gap between Technology and Women, won her accolades at a community college’s Student Success Conference. She has been a panelist at speculative fiction, science fiction, and other regional conventions. Her digital exhibition pieces have won awards at convention art shows, as well as garnered her Second Premium at the Arizona State Fair. Currently, Ms. Mullan’s artistic renditions are seen on book covers, blog sites, video presentations, and various merchandise. As an independent publisher, she uses her technical background to innovate the creative arts.

As a writer, DL Mullan loves to stretch her imagination and the elasticity of genres. She writes complex multi-genre stories in digestible and entertaining forms, be it poetry, short fiction, or novels. Her science, history, mythology, and paranormal research backgrounds are woven into her writings, especially in Undawnted’s Legacy Universe. Ms. Mullan’s creative endeavors are available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies. She is also an award-winning poet.

Be sure to subscribe to her newsletters and follow her on social media. For further information, visit her at www.undawntech.com and www.undawnted.com.

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This post is sponsored by T ales From the Hanging Tree: Imprints of Tragedy and WordCrafter Press .

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